United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Softball - Third-Seeded Bears Open NCAA Play On Thursday

NEW LONDON, CONN.--(5/10/10)--Coast Guard, the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season and tournament champions, are the #3 seed in the Wellesley Regional and will take on sixth-seeded Salem State, the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) tournament champion, on Thursday at 2 p.m. in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Softball Championship at Wellesley College. Salem State (33-8-1) won its first MASCAC tournament championship after tying for the regular season championship and settling for the second-seeded in the conference tournament.

WELLESLEY REGIONAL WEBSITE

The Bears made their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season as an at-large selection, also earning a three-seed, and advanced all the way to the New England region championship game and won a school-record 39 games.

Eastern Connecticut (32-4-1), the Little East regular season and tournament champion is the top-seed, Brandeis (27-7-1), who received an at-large bid is the second seed. Bowdoin (4th), Rivier (5th), Endicott (7th) and Husson (8th) round out the eight-team regional.

The Bears, under the direction of NEWMAC Coach of the Year Donna Koczajowski, are 30-8 on the season. They won their second straight NEWMAC regular season championship before earning the programs first automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by winning its first NEWMAC tournament championship.

Coast Guard features two-time NEWMAC Pitcher of the Year, sophomore Hayley Feindel and NEWMAC Player of the Year, junior catcher Amanda Frederick.

Feindel (28-8) is having another outstanding season as she leads the nation in three categories with 28 wins, 331 strikeouts and 13 shutouts, and leads the NEWMAC with 0.96 ERA. She led the nation with 34 wins last season. She is already the Bears all-time leader with 713 strikeouts and is second in school history with 62 wins (62-14).

Frederick leads the team with a .464 batting average, 15 doubles, 38 runs scored, 41 RBI’s, a .776 slugging percentage, a .478 on base percentage and she is second on the team and in the conference with eight home runs. The junior is second all-time at Coast Guard in hits (163), doubles (38), home runs (19), runs scored (110) and RBI’s (128).

Eight teams will compete at six first-round sites and six teams will compete at two first-round sites for a total of eight first-round sites. All sites will use a double-elimination format.

The six-team regional rounds will be held May 14-17 on the campuses of competing institutions. The eight-team regional rounds will be held May 13-17 on the campuses of competing institutions. The finals, hosted by the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, will be held May 21-25 at Carson Park in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Thirty-nine conferences received automatic qualification and three independents were selected for the 2010 championship. The 18 remaining teams were selected on an at-large basis from automatic qualifying conferences and the remaining independent institutions.

2010 NCAA Division III Softball Wellesley Regional
@ Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.

Thursday, May 13th

Game 1--#1 Eastern Connecticut vs. #8 Husson, 10:00

Game 2--#4 Bowdoin vs. #5 Rivier, noon

Game 3--#3 Coast Guard vs. #6 Salem State, 2:00

Game 4--#2 Brandeis vs. #7 Endicott, 4:00

Friday, May 14th

Game 5--Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 , 10:00

Game 6--Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, noon

Game 7--Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 2:00

Game 8--Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 4:00

Saturday, May 15th

Game 9--Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 10:00

Game 10-Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, noon

Game 11--Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 2:00

Game 12--Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 4:00

Sunday, May 16th

Game 13--Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 11, noon

Game 14--Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 13, 2:00

Monday, May 17th

Game 15 (if necessary)-- rematch of Game 14, 10:00